Zero

At least the same as Beye imo. And did anyone notice Enrique does know how to dribble? He is not the type of Ashley Cole but that doesn't prevent him from being a good left back. Actually I think it's very valuable to have a strong left back who can make crucial header, and at the same time not being outpaced by opponent's winger. I like this lad, he is the most promising defender we have and my only concern is his positioning during offside trap. Fair play for a defender from Spain which usually produce soft-like-shit defenders.

You just get the impression of lack of pace because of his size and his frequency of legs during running. Time his runs yourself and you should discover that he is actually fast, not as fast as Charles but definitely enough for a left back in Premiership.

....well, I know people here dislike him but, tbf he's saying that he's not offered a new contract yet and do afraid he will be sold in this summer. That doesn't sounds unreasonable for a player who's contract is ending next summer ah? I will have him over Ramage any day. And again, no matter how shit he is, we shouldn't sell him before we got a replacement. Cacapa's injury record is terrible and Faye is already 29 who may deteriorate any time.

Smith is simply a useful bench warmer who occasionally come out to fill in the numbers. The problem is the managers always believe he is a starter instead.

I don't think anyone is blaming KK to be honest. They are blaming the decision and timing of sacking Sam.

I think the question should be why Sam and KK always make similar selections?

...and tbf Keegan isn't famous for half time team talk either.

I don't understand. I have been stating again and again that Keegan didn't show any tactical ability so far, and given his failure in last window and the poor result this season, the chance he also fail the summer transfer window is relatively high, and that's a critical hit towards his appointment. Things aren't looking good, just that. Now it is like this forum's stress and pressure are just too high that people couldn't accept anymore negative words about the team, and doubting Keegan's appointment will be classified as no support to the team/want us to get relegated. Fucking hell. If the doubters don't give a shit towards relegation then why not just leave this forum and go somewhere else?

So tell me what's wrong to point out that the hope under Keegan's reign just lie on the coming summer?

Given our current form and the players status, trying to play a 50-50 game with Arsenal and Man Utd should be counted as suicide. Not suggesting we should play like Bolton again but have a defensive mind with proper counter attacking tactics isn't a bad option right? I just want Keegan to show some tactical mind, just some, to comfort the doubters like us.

Talented managers can make shit looks like a stone. Simply as that. Keegan isn't that type of manager, but one who relies strongly on stars and squad strength. Keegan can bring us success, I am not discounting him that much, but it is only possible if he can spend something like 50m this summer and really persuade some stars to come. But last transfer window did shows that good players didn't want to come here. Yes you could give him the benefit of the doubt for the lack of time but that does cast doubt towards his forthcoming summer signings right?

Just a question, should we play those match with a bit of prudence and try to sneak a point or should we play "attacking football" and everyone knows got hammered was the only result?

Of course he would be given the chance. I couldn't see him being sacked for the next 2 seasons unless we relegated this year. Ashley will be fully responsible for the mess if he really sacked Kev before the end of 2009. Just that I'm really, really not impressed by what he did so far. His lack of tactical knowledge is really worrying and the only hope we have is he can spend big money this summer to overturn it. But honestly if Kev can only make us marginally survive this season, there is really a chance that Ashley eating back his words and didn't support Kev like what he promised before.

FFS it's King who's injury record is even worse than Woodgate and Huddlestone who is just a statue! They have good players, so do we. You'd hardly say Tainio, O'hara are players much better than ours right? Their players are better, but they performed well because Ramos know how to make them perform. The clear distinction between a good manager and a bad manager is their ability to bring out player's potential. Even a mediocore player like Tainio can contribute and bring success to the team. O'Neill also did that to Villa, the result may not be impressive enough at that time but it's fucking obvious that everyone has much better performance and the team has a stable tactics. Tell me where is it for Keegan. What people can see is using shit players again and again, continuing the mistake Sam has made and most importantly, a tactical downfall for the whole team. The players are more eager to attack but their methods are fucking ineffective. I'd rather restore the idea of Milner/N'Zogbia partnership rather than Duff fucking around and did nothing. And of course we don't need to mention how bad our defense is after Keegan's appointment huh? Players are shit but they aren't that shit. And we do have good young crop of players. Lua Lua, Edgar, Carroll showed their potential, Tozer is showing that he can make it in the premiership, and of course there is Enrique who could be a top performer in EPL. So where the fuck are they? I could just see Carr playing in the left FFS, Butt shitting around and nevermind that Smith the shit.

I don't think the squad difference is THAT BIG enough. It is fucking obvious that Keegan isn't the same class as Ramos.

Smith is a player who is not talented enough to win you a match. He is an excellent "hole filler" and when needed he can play everywhere you want and warranted a fair performance given his attitude and positioning. However we are not Man Utd and we need players who can win matches, like Robert or recently N'Zogbia. People are expecting the attacking players to score goals desperately and if you rely on Smith to score goals then it's definitely a failure. Smith, in some circumstances, doesn't deserve so much criticism but he also doesn;t deserve a starting place too. It's the case that even Carroll can offer something better than Smith in our relegation battle.

He actually is too good for us now.

I wonder how much we can receive by selling him. 4m at best?

Te be fair for the lad, he played quite well under Allardyce.

Sometimes I wonder whether that rumour is correct - Keegan has no tactics for the players but just ask them to play by natural instinct, like the Brazilians...

Someone mentioned that "he has escaped back to Spain"...so what the hell is going on for him? Or that's just a non-sense wind up? I feel sorry for him tbh, being forced out the team by both managers, probably due to the warranted starters: Duff, N'Zogbia and Milner. The only way to play them all is to drop Enrique into bench.

Carroll should start every game from now on. He is a better striker during relegation battle --- header is what we need.

Just tell me how could we have faith in Keegan please?

The point is whether Taylor should get extra punishment for that. To be honest, I support the idea of banning the players for say 10-20 matches if they caused extremely serious tackle by unsporting tackles. The EPL is reaching a stage that the injuries are getting more and more ridiculous and something must be done to stop that.

The problem Taylor has is his distribution, not his defense.